Sarah Sultan – Free Yourself from External Validation – Deeds to Habit

			smell salatu salam ala Rasulillah Ali Ali Asahi woman, Willa, and my bad Sri Monica one, I have to
live in a ghetto. This is sorta Sultan here with the FTM Institute to bring you the deed of the day.
So as we're talking about this, what I want you to remember, and to think about is a time when you
were much younger, and you brought something to show to somebody that you cared about probably a
parent, right? It could have been a drawing, it could have been something that you built, whatever
it is, and remembering the way that they responded to you in that moment. Did you get that
encouragement that support that praise that you were looking for? Right? And how did that make you
		

			feel? You know, that that elation, that joy, that pride that comes with? Getting that sense of
acceptance from somebody that you really look up to? Or did you get a response that was really
negative, right, or just kind of dismissive, and the feeling that is evoked when you remember that
and that feeling of sadness and hurt that and disappointment, and self doubt that might come from
that. So what that's called is validation, right? external validation, meaning validation, or sense
of acceptance that you get from the outside. And that's a really normal human need. It is normal for
us as human beings to want that, which is why I brought up the example of your childhood and
		

			striving for that as a child, because that's a very normal experience.
		

			So when does it then become more of an issue, which is what I want to talk about today, it becomes
an issue when this need this need for external validation becomes something that takes over our
lives, it becomes something that we need constantly, it causes us to lose our sense of identity. It
prevents us from being able to confront people who have wronged us from being able to disagree with
people who might have a different perspective. When you find yourself changing your thoughts and
beliefs because of what someone either approves or disapproves of. Or when you notice that you're
starting to ascribe your self worth to the approval of others, that's all when it starts to become
		

			very unhealthy. So the deed that I want us to focus in on today that we can inshallah start to
implement on a daily basis, is how to reduce our need for external validation. And to realize that
this goal in implementing this deed, this can be very, very impactful in our relationship with Allah
span data, it can be impactful in a lot of different ways mentally, psychologically, emotionally,
and in relationships with others, but particularly in our relationship with Allah span data.
		

			Why is this such an important component spiritually? The reason for that is when we rely deeply on
external validation, wanting the approval of other people, we tend to put a less past data second,
he's no longer at the top of our priority list. If we are prioritizing the approval of other people,
when we base our self worth and our choices on the standard that we imagine is pleasing to people,
then we put all this past data and his standards unintentionally, we've put them second. And we are
unintentionally telling ourselves that what people think about us is more important than what ALLAH
SubhanA thinks about us. And so does it focus on others? patita asks, Have you seen the one who
		

			takes as his God his own desire? Right, your own desire to be liked and approved of by people, which
is a natural human need? But do we start to take that too far? Where we are replacing the standard
of Allah's pathauto with the standards of people? So how do we now take steps necessary to implement
reducing this need for external validation? The first step in this three step process is to build a
sense of awareness. Right? You can't fix a problem unless you know what's there. So you build a
sense of awareness by starting to be a little bit more cognizant and conscious of the fact that you
might be striving for the approval of particular people in your life. You might be holding yourself
		

			back from certain things, because you're worried about how people might perceive them. So starting
to become aware of that is number one. The second step is that the goal of trying to please others,
trying to get the approval of other people is an impossible goal. And the reason why this is
impossible is because people's hearts are constantly changing. Even the prophesy seller himself used
to constantly make dot for Allah's pancetta to make his heart firm on the deen because he knew that
hearts are changing all the time.
		

			I am. So when we realize that people's opinions are constantly changing, then we also realize that
relying on a constantly changing standard makes the goal and reaching that goal impossible. Right?
If you had a compass, and it sometimes pointed north, but it's sometimes going to sell sometimes
east west, right? You wouldn't use that compass anymore, right? So why allow the compass that we
utilize for our growth and our development, and our choices and our judgments and our identity? Why
allow that compass to be something that's constantly changing? Because that's what the standards of
people are, they're always changing. And then the final step, step three, is to ask yourself in
		

			different situations as you're trying to make a choice.
		

			What would allow us paths that I want me to do?
		

			If you find yourself being drawn to another direction, realize that that's normal, but then also
realize maybe this is because I'm needing external validation from other people. And then in that
moment, make the choice to break the cycle and realize that Allah subhanaw taala is the one who will
fulfill your needs that unless path data is AutoExec he is the one who provides for all of our needs
in order to allow us to grow physically, mentally, spiritually, and within our identities. While
this pans out and make it easy to second law Clayton